Media Labels HowTo

Hey, so it seems some folks had some trouble with the labels I posted before – it’s not easy to work with the SVGs without some Inkscape knowledge since the way I did them they aren’t perfectly sized (there is some padding around them.)

So to make it easier for folks to get some nice F8 labels they can print out at home:

I put together a tutorial on how to use glabels to print out the artwork. This assumes that you want to print out on those sticky labels you can buy.

I’ve noticed some folks have made lightscribe versions of the Fedora media labels in the past – I don’t actually know much about this so if you do please feel free to append to this little howto page. :)

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About Máirín Duffy

Máirín is a principal interaction designer at Red Hat. She is passionate about software freedom and free & open source tools, particularly in the creative domain: her favorite application is Inkscape. You can read more from Máirín on her blog at blog.linuxgrrl.com.

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2 thoughts on “Media Labels HowTo”

Lightscribe labeling.

Lightscribe uses a Grayscale image. Think of it as an image where ‘white’ is transparent. Lightscribe CD and DVD media can be purchased in a variety of colors, so some of the Blue disks might work as the background for some of the images provided.

There is no ‘white’ on Lightscribe media. Every disk I’ve seen, the bare media has some color already. You may want to take that into consideration for any lettering or imagery that is white on the source labels. You could either set the raw transparency for the image at 50%, with ‘white’ as 100% transparent, (leaving letters the color of the media) or change the font color to black, and accept that it’s a kludge. (I suppose you could use white-out to put ‘white’ where you want it after the fact as well.)

To get an idea of what the artwork you are working with will look like on LightScribe media, print a sample using the glabels how-to, to print to transparency/overhead film. Lay the sample printout over an unprinted cd/dvd, to get a feel for what the final result will look like. Once you are satisfied, save the image to a .jpg or .png, and load it in the lightscribe burning software. Print to a CD/DVD disk installed in the drive, upside down.

The final results may differ from what your sample overhead film sample looked like. You may find adjusting the contrast, or checking the appropriate box in the lightscribe software to do ‘darker’ burning as well.

If you are considering getting a lightscribe drive, to make these labels yourself, be aware that printing the label side often takes longer than burning the data side of the media in the first place. Using an ink-jet friendly media, and a cd capable ink-jet printer will allow you to get more disks burned and labeled if you are giving out custom disks at an install fest, or release party. RW blanks and a Sharpy are probably your fastest process of course. (Sharpy can be cleaned from th RW using rubbing alcohol and a little bit of elbow grease.)

I just watched over the screenshots of the newest Fedora release and was entirely blown away. The color themes and look are consistent from the beginning of booting to the desktop, and they manage to look good and professional. The GDM theme is simply the best one out there at this moment!